[Echographic aspects of kidney diseases and comparisons with needle biopsy]

A study of 38 patients who underwent renal biopsy was designed to correlate the sonographic features of the kidney with the histologic changes in various renal parenchymal diseases. This research was performed in order to determine if sonography could be useful in the diagnosis and differentiation of renal parenchymal diseases. The ultrasound examination was based on the evaluation of some codified parameters: renal dimension, parenchymal thickness, cortical echogenicity and medullary dimension. There was no correlation between the specific sonographic features and the type of renal medical disease. In 28 patients (74%) with clinical and histological signs, sonography showed morphostructural alterations of the kidney.